Cotton-gin



(No Model.) h

O. T. MASON, JI.

COTTON GIN.-

No. 316,379.` Patented Apr. 21, 1885.v

Muay,

ATTORNEY NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHAR-LES T. MASON, JR., OF SUMTER, ASSIGNOR TO THE MASON COTTON GIN CYLINDER COMPANY, OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA.

COTTON-GIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent Nc. 316,379, dated April 21, 1885.

y Application tiled November 15, 1884. (No model.)

Y To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES T. MAsoN, Jr., of Sumter, Sumter county, South Carolina, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cotton-Gins, of which the following is a speciiication.

The invention relates to a cotton-ginning cylinder designed to take the place o f the series of saws used in cotton-gins of usual construction, the grate grid or ribs employed in connection with said saws being also dispensed with.

The invention consists more particularly in the construction of the periphery of the cylinder, as hereinafter set forth.

In another application for Letters Patent tiled September 10, 1884, No. 142,609, and now pending, I have fully set forth and described a cotton-ginning cylinder having a substantially smooth periphery, and upon said periphery teeth arranged in openings formed therein, the points of said teeth being disposed at or slightly above the level of the circumjacent portions of said periphery, and I have also described a particular arrangement of said teeth so disposed that they are caused by the rotation of the said cylinder in contact with the seed-cotton to be thrust into and so to penetrate the outer fluffy coating of the cot-l ton-seeds before beginning to strip the lint or fiber therefrom. To this end in the aforesaid application I show and describe teeth straight, flat, or tangential to the circumference of the cylinder, and hence not conforming to the curve thereof. In still another application for Letters Patent led simultaneously herewith, No. 148,019, I have shown and described a cylinder of similar construction in which the teeth are dierently disposed-fthat is to say, the cylinder has a substantially smooth periphery and teeth conforming to the curve thereof. In front of the point of each tooth is a very shallow depression or recess, into which the lint can enter, and so pass beneath the point of the tooth when the cylinder is rotated. By means of this depression or recess the point is enabled to penetrate for a determinate distance into the fluffy coating of the cotton-seed before the drawing of the fiber begms.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a cotton-gin of usual construction A is the grate fall or breast, hinged to the main frame at a. l

B is the baclrboard, C the seed-board, and D the brush for removing the lint from the cylinder.

E is the ginning-cylinder, which in the ma-` chine occupies substantially the same position as the saw-gin cylinder in common use, the grate grid or ribs being removed and a bar, F, secured in the concave c. The grate fall or breast A, being hinged, as already stated, is adjustable nearer to or farther from the frame, and as the bar F is secured in said breast the movement of the latter may bring said bar nearer to or farther from the cylinder-surface. i

The cylinder E consists of a sheet or thin plate of metal, G, preferably steel, the periphery of which is longitudinally corrugated. .It is provided at the ends with heads or disks of woodH, (dotted lines, Fig. 2,) which are se cured in any suitable way to a sleeve, h, adapted to receive the splined shaft I.

In each of the corrugations of the sheet or thin plate G, I form a row or series of slots or openings, o, disposed longitudinally or in the direction of the axis of the cylinder. In each slot or opening I form a pointed tooth, g, from the material of said sheet G, the tooth lying lengthwise the slot and conforming to the curve of the corrugation containing said slot. The points of the teeth are disposed at or about the level of the general surface of the said corrugation. By reason of each tooth being tal pered and pointed and arranged in the slot there is an open space in the periphery of the cylinder extending directly in vfront of the point of the tooth and on each side of the body thereof. Into this opening the lint (because of its elasticity and softness) can enter in a radial direction, as shown by the arrow 1, Fig. 3, toward the axis of the cylinder when brought IOC) into contact with the periphery of said cylinder. On referring to Figs. 1 and 3 it will be seen that the radius of the curve of each corrugation is shorter than the radius of the general circumference of the cylinder, and also that the edges of each corrugation are nearer the axial center of the cylinder than the central or middle portions, L, of said corrugations. Consequently each of the slots o formed in said corrugations will have its outer eX# tremity, p, Fig. 3, nearer said axial center than theV portionsof said slot which extend on each side of the contained tooth, and hence the lint may enter said slot not only in a radial direction, as indicated by the arrow 1, Fig. 3, but also in a tangential direction, as indicated by the arrow 2 in said figure; or, in other words, when the cylinder E is rotated, the point of each tooth Will be thrust directly into the coating of the seed for a short determinatejdistance before it begins to draw the fiber from the body of said seed.

In operation the seed-cotton is fed into the receptacle K, and meets the toothed surface of the' ynnaern, which rotatesni the direc. 25

tion of the arrow 4. rlhe teeth upon said cylinder engage only with the cotton lint, as already described, aud carry the same past and under the bar F, which prevents seeds and other foreignsubstances being drawn around 3o the cylinder with the lint. As the cylinder continues its revolution, the lint is removed from its teeth by the brush-wheel D, from which the cleansed material, passes out of the machine in the direction of the arrow 5.

I claim as my inventionf n A cotton-ginning cylinder having a longitudinally-corrugated periphery of sheet metal, and in each corrugat-ion a series of slots, each slot containing a tooth formed of the metal of 4o said periphery, and having its point at about the level of the circumjacent surface of said periphery, substantially as described.

CHARLES T. MASON, JR.

Witnesses:

PARK BENJAMIN, J oHN J. BOWEN. 

